South Korea: Foreign minister Park Jin to visit Japan next week

In light of recent tensions in the peninsula, the leaders of South Korea and Japan are keen to improve relations. South Korean foreign minister Park Jin is set to travel to Japan next week, according to local media in Japan.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported Thursday that South Korea’s foreign minister Park Jin would be coming to Japan on July 18. Park will be meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for talks during his visit.

Park’s visit also comes at a time when both South Korea and Japan are looking to improve relations, especially with tensions surrounding the Korean peninsula due to multiple weapons tests by North Korea this year so far.

Relations between South Korea and Japan have been under strain for years, stemming from the legacy of Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1940 to 1945.

South Korea and Japan have also been at odds with each other over other issues such as wartime forced labor and export controls.

Previously, the South Korean presidential office condemned the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen back in 2019, describing the revelation as a “crime against humanity” under the administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s predecessor Moon Jae-in.

“If they were forcibly repatriated to the North even when they expressed their will to defect, it’s a crime against humanity that violated both international law and the constitution,” said presidential office spokesperson Kang In-sun, who pledged that Yoon’s administration would uncover the truth behind the decision.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, released photos of the two fishermen, who were suspected of killing 16 of their shipmates, being forcibly dragged across the border.

The Moon administration at the time said the two men were “dangerous criminals who would threaten South Koreans’ safety” when they allegedly killed their colleagues on the ship.

This comes as prosecutors have moved to reopen the case. Opposition lawmaker Yoon Kun-young, who was Moon’s situation room chief, defended the forced repatriation of the two fishermen.

“President Yoon, are you saying we should have let the grotesque murderers get away with their crime and protect them with our own people’s tax money?” said Yoon in a Facebook post.